Russia’s Night Wolves, Migrating Memory and Europe’s Eastern Frontier

Abstract

The article examines the controversy triggered by the “Victory Tour” of Russia’s high-profile biker organization, the Night Wolves, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. The tour provoked important questions about the relationship between European borders and the politics of World War II commemoration. The article argues that the international public discourse around the Night Wolves illuminates how state borders are being transformed both as hard, territorialized borders and as “soft,” symbolic boundaries. The analysis compares how print and online media in Russia, Poland, and Germany framed the Night Wolves’ tour across Europe. It emphasizes the construction of borders as a narrative project and maps the symbolic boundary-drawing strategies mobilized by various actors. It shows how cross-border commemorative tours can serve as a tool of transnational memory politics that shapes the very meaning and salience of state borders and regional divisions.

Mapping the Russian Political Influence Ecosystem: The Night Wolves Biker Gang

“…This significance is not indicative of the sheer volume of conversation about WWII, but rather suggests a higher variety of terms associated with the discussion of this particular event. The prominence of memoryrelated discussions is not accidental: the Russian narrative of wartime suffering and subsequent victory serves as one of the central tenets underpinning the Russian national identity (Kleiner et al, 2023;Molnár et al, 2021). This narrative is meaningful for the purpose of this study and warrants a further investigation in the context of political influencers.…”

“…This narrative is meaningful for the purpose of this study and warrants a further investigation in the context of political influencers. As Molnár et al (2021) explain, memorialization of WWII across Europe is a fraught and fragmented process that is a site of ongoing tensions among European nations. The official version of Russian history differs from the cosmopolitan version of these historical events accepted in the West: instead of narrating WWII from the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of 1939, in the Russian rendition the Great Patriotic War begins with Hitler’s attack on Russia in 1941, therefore downplaying Stalin’s role and responsibility in the leadup to the war.…”

“…The Night Wolves have become nationally known in 2008, after they organized a motorcycle joyride in support of Presidential Candidate Vladimir Medvedev's election victory (Harris, 2020). Putin's presidency brought forth a remarkable shift in the club's official views across three key areas: (1) declaring unwavering support for Vladimir Putin (Harris, 2021;Zabyelina, 2019), (2) propagating a radical ethnonationalist version of the Russian national identity (Molnár et al, 2021), and (3) promoting imperial Orthodox stances establishing strategic relationships with the Russian Orthodox Church (Adamsky, 2019). These views, which mirror and represent the key tenets of the Russian World doctrine, have enabled the club's gradual transformation into a paramilitary organization, allowing the biker gang to significantly expand its geographic areas of influence, and subsequently their role in the Russian influence ecosystem more broadly.…”

“…This narrative is meaningful for the purpose of this study and warrants a further investigation in the context of political influencers. As Molnár et al (2021) explain, memorialization of WWII across Europe is a fraught and fragmented process that is a site of ongoing tensions among European nations. The official version of Russian history differs from the cosmopolitan version of these historical events accepted in the West: These discrepancies in dates and events afford a construction of an alternative version of historical events that glorify Russia's role in defeating fascism with some crucial omissions, such as the fact that Stalin began the war as Hitler's ally (Snyder, 2022).…”

“…Everyone is welcome In this context, the Night Wolves' commemorative anniversary Victory Road tour that involves visiting the places of the Russian military glory and the tombs of the fallen soldiers serves as a tool of contestation of historical memory in the West. This ride has caused a lot of controversy after the Night Wolves had been denied entry to Poland despite valid visas (Molnár et al, 2021). Molnár et al (2021) further posit that "the circulation of symbols across time and space can be enlisted to challenge existing territorial borders and symbolic boundaries" (p. 76), and we can see this discursive challenge represented on the semantic maps in green.…”